Hitting the sweet spot off the field

Graphics

The Super Bowl arrived on millions of televisions around the world Sunday, and yes, there was a game played in New Orleans. But the stuff that happened between touchdowns and timeouts – the commercials – is where the casual fans focused their attention.

So we watched the game, and it was a good one as Super Bowls go (despite the 34 minutes when the power went out), but we also watched the TV ads and judged the reactions of friends gathered for a Super Bowl party in Huntington Beach.

There were, of course, plenty of commercials for cars and beers and snacks and fast food. So what did we like and what caught our attention most during the non-football parts of the game? We'll start with a horse, a cute little horse.

Sentimental stories

Budweiser's baby Clydesdale: The farmer raised his baby Clydesdale, which in real life was only days old when it was filmed for the spot, and when the horse was old enough, delivered him to Budweiser to go to work pulling the Bud wagon. Three years later, the farmer sees an article in the newspaper – good job, farmer, reading your local paper! – that says the Clydesdales are coming to Chicago. Off he drives, as Stevie Nicks sings “Landslide,” to watch the parade, where he and his horse have a touching reunion. Lump-in-your-throat time. Everyone at the TV party agreed: This was the sweetest, most touching ad of the afternoon.

Dodge Ram farmers: Runner-up for the most sentimental spot of the afternoon was this simple, evocative spot from Dodge. Using a well-known Paul Harvey monologue about how on the eighth day God made farmers, it was illustrated with still photos of hard-working American farmers and their families. The commercial focused mostly on the people and the important role they play in our country; the actual pickup truck was only a supporting player, which made this ad work well.

Fun 'n' games

Taco Bell's senior citizens: Fast-food restaurants and snack food manufacturers often go for the funny bone when they roll out their Super Bowl spots, and Taco Bell did a good job with this one. Senior citizens sneak out of the old folks home to party, dance in the club, make out with each other (and younger dudes in the bathroom!), get tattoos and finally end up where all party animals do: eating late-night tacos in the parking lot of Taco Bell. We liked this one better than both the Jack in the Box “Hot Mess” spot and the Doritos “Dads Dressed Like Princesses” ones.

Kia's miracle of birth: This commercial started off with a dad's surreal explanation of where babies come from that included a baby in an astronaut suit, plenty of baby animals, and pink and blue parachuting infants arriving with their new families. The kindergartner isn't convinced though, saying, “But Jake said …” which prompts dad to order the car's stereo to play “The Wheels On The Bus,” stat! Fun visuals, amusing take on an old concept.

Sex sells?

Go Daddy's supermodel: Go Daddy is known for pushing the envelope in its Super Bowl ads, and this year its spot featuring supermodel Bar Refaeli making out with an IT nerd did just that. It's not so much that people didn't need to watch that, it's that the lip-and-tongue-smacking soundtrack was just a bit too much.
Calvin Klein, meanwhile, pleased all the women gathered at Georgia and Yianni's house, though if you ask us, we don't see what the big deal is about a guy with rock-hard abs cavorting in his underpants.

An O.C. connection

The
Audi “Prom” ad that aired early in the game featured a hapless teen who had to go stag to the prom but was saved from disaster by his dad lending him the keys to the Audi. That gave him the courage to walk into the prom, kiss the hot prom queen and go home smiling despite his black eye. The prom queen? That's Devon Barnes, an actress-model from Orange County.

A noncommercial moment

For a telecast as rigorously choreographed as the Super Bowl, the most memorable portion was not in the playbook. The stadium dimmed mysteriously, the announcers went silent, and the camera slowly panned around the stadium to wordlessly reveal that the lights had gone out. That was actually much nicer than the endless filling done by the CBS crew once their mics were back on.

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